Man charged after chopped up bodies found in tree

A MAN suspected of killing three people whose dismembered bodies were found in a hollow tree has been charged with aggravated murder, burglary, kidnapping and rape.

But a death sentence is not being pursued at the wishes of victims’ families.

Instead unemployed tree-cutter Matthew Hoffman could face life without the possibility of parole if convicted of killing Tina Herrmann, her son Kody Maynard and neighbour Stephanie Sprang.

The indictment says Hoffman, 30, committed the killings while he burgled Herrmann’s house on November 10 near a lakeside community 90km from Columbus, Ohio.

He was also charged with kidnapping a 13-year-old girl during the crime and later raping her at his home in Mount Vernon.

The crimes could carry a possible death penalty, but Knox County prosecutor John Thatcher said those were not pursued “in accordance with the wishes of the victims’ families”.

Hoffman is also charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly taking clothes and bedding from Herrmann’s house because he sought to remove them as possible evidence. He is further charged with abusing a corpse “because the victims’ remains were not intact when recovered”.

Bruce Malek, Hoffman’s lawyer, said the charges were not a surprise. “There’s really nothing in the indictment that came as a shock, based on what I had understood the state’s position to be as to what had occurred.”

Authorities have not speculated on a motive. The sheriff has suggested that Hoffman, who spent six years in a Colorado prison for arson and other charges, had been watching the family for some time.